Jim Lake Jr.
James "Jim" Lake, Jr. is the main protagonist of Trollhunters. Official Description "On the surface, Jim appears to be an average 15-year-old student. He goes to school, stays out of trouble, looks after his mom, and selflessly puts others above himself. But there's a piece of him that yearn for a life of adventure outside the doldrums of suburbia. When destiny calls and a magical amulet chooses Jim to be the first human Trollhunter, the protector of a secret world of Trolls living beneath his hometown, Jim is thrust into the greatest adventure of his life. Whether it's rogue gnomes, mischievous goblins or Trolls of the worst kind, Jim has a lot to learn if he wants to live to see graduation." History Background Around his fifth birthday, Jim's father walked out on their family. His mother then told him that they needed to take better care of each other. Jim has cared for his mother ever since. Sometime in kindergarten, Jim met Toby Domzalski, who became his new best friend. Eventually, Claire Nunez came to town and Jim fell deeply in love with her, even though she never noticed him. Part One Finding the Amulet Jim finds the Amulet of Daylight in the rubble of Kanjigar's body. After Blinky and AAARRRGGHH!!! find him and reveal his duty as the Trollhunter, Jim immediately goes to tell Toby. That night, Blinky gives Jim a speech encouraging him to accept his destiny as the Trollhunter. The next day at school, Strickler causes the Trollhunter armor to activate, and Jim uses the Romeo and Juliet play auditions to attempt to hide the true nature of the armor. Forced to audition, Jim uses Blinky's speech about destiny, and winds up getting the part. Unfortunately, Stickler has also found out and is actually working for Gunmar. First Arrival in Trollmarket Jim and Toby are taken to the land of Trollmarket and are very intrigued by the environment and all of it's inhabitants. However, the trolls do not take kindly to the arrival of humans in their town, much less having a human as their protector, especially Draal the Deadly, Kanjigar's son. When Jim starts his training, Jim begins having difficulty with the dangerous and fearful tasks. Then, Draal decides to battle Jim for the honor of being the Trollhunter, which Jim has no choice to but accept. Jim tries to get rid of the amulet, but it won't leave him alone. Jim has no choice but to accept his newly found fate. The Double Life Begins For his first task as the Trollhunter, Jim is sent to stop a gnome named Chompsky, who is stealing everything in Trollmarket. Using a shrinking spell, Jim and Toby capture him. However, Jim is still shrunken on the same day that he is supposed to give his Spanish report. Jim and Toby then come up with a plan to give the report while the shrinking wears off. Jim decides to give his Spanish report via web cam, but runs into some trouble when Chompsky starts rampaging through Toby's house and he starts going back to his normal size. Luckily, Jim gets a passing grade and nobody becomes suspicious. Unfortunately, Jim starts neglecting rehearsals for the school play. Discovering the Killahead Bridge Jim and Toby go on a field trip with their class to a museum of ancient history. During that, Toby discovers that some goblins are on the loose and informs his friends about it. They arrive at Eli's house, where the goblins last attacked to stop them. Unfortunately, the goblins get away and leave with Toby's watch. That night, Jim and Toby track down the watch and break into the museum to see what the goblins are up to. While sneaking in, they find out that the curator, Normura is actually a changeling, a type of troll that takes the form of its human counterpart. During the battle, Jim uses Blinky’s advice to outsmart Normua, and actually causes her to squish the goblin leader, which makes the goblins turn on her and attack her. During the battle, Toby discovers some sort of bridge, which he believes to be the Killahead Bridge. He takes a photo of it, but the picture comes out blurry. Blinky then informs Jim about the changelings, and how there might be more lurking among them. The Battle Begins The day for Jim's battle against Draal begins. Since this is probably his biggest battle yet, he leaves letters to Claire, Toby, and Barbara in case he doesn't live, telling them what is going on and how he truly feels. Jim begins to start studying Troll battle with the amulet, which also is a translator for Troll letters. Jim heads to Trollmarket, where the battle begins and it becomes quite heated. Using Blinky's information from the book, he manges to defeat Draal and send him hanging from an abyss. Rather than push Draal off as he is pressured to from the others (and Draal himself), he follows his moral compass and rescues Draal, causing the troll to be shunned by everyone and humiliated. Jim arrives back home and sees Normua with his mother. While Jim is telling Normua off, Barbara falls asleep and Normua changes into her changeling form to get rid of Jim. Since Jim is nowhere near his amulet, he is helpless against her. Just when all hope seems lost, Draal suddenly shows up and defeats Nomura. Jim asks why, and Draal replies that he's decided to become Jim's protector/trainer to help him be more prepared for his upcoming battles. Search for the Changelings Jim and Toby take Blinky, AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!, and Vendel to the museum to see the Killabridge Bridge, but it has vanished somehow, and no one believes him (except for Blinky, of course). Back in school, Jim's high school career is going downhill, and Steve has become his understudy for the school play, since he keeps missing rehearsals. Claire takes note of this, and decides to ask him to come to her house for a study date. Jim and Toby go back to Trollmarket to get proof that the bridge is there. Blinky and AAARRRGGHHH!!! take them to a troll named "RotGut", who provides them with something called a "gaggletack", which is a horseshoe. Jim and Toby try to search for the Changelings, but nobody complies. While Toby is at the dentist, Claire and Jim are at Clarie's house having their study session. Here, Jim and Claire start to do some bonding, and Claire claims that Jim's letter was a metaphor for Jim's psychological issues, and thanks Jim for his compliments in the letter. As soon as they study, Toby calls Jim for help and Jim leaves hastily, which leaves Claire suspicious. Jim arrives at the dentist, where the Changeling is attacking Blinky, Toby, and AAAARRRRGGHHH!!! Luckily, Jim manages to vanquish the Changeling, but also all the evidence they have for the bridge. On the plus side, Jim accomplished Blinky's rule of "finishing the fight." Finding NotEnrique The next day, Jim and Toby find a stuffed bunny fall out of the sky, and Claire claims that it belongs to her baby brother, Enrique. The boys then conclude that Enrique must have been swapped with a Changeling, since Blinky told them earlier that Changelings are switched with their human counterparts at birth. To investigate, Jim arrives at Claire's house to babysit Enrique and find out. When Enrique somehow starts causing trouble, Jim loses the gaggletack and now, the others have to get a new one. When the gang arrives, Enrique is revealed to be replaced with a Changeling, who starts trashing the place. Now that they have proof, they can do something about the bridge. Unfortunately, this leads to Jim and Toby being in big trouble with Claire, and Claire being in trouble with her folks. Claire refuses to speak to Jim anymore. Jim's Birthday Arrives Jim's birthday eventually arrives, but he does not seem interested in celebrating it, despite the insistence of his friends and mother. Luckily, Jim is given a chance to test drive a moped that he has had his eyes on for quite some time. However, another sub-species of troll called a Stalkling shows up to attack Jim. Jim learns from Blinky that he cannot be harmed unless he is truly by himself, so he decides to make sure he is in the company of someone at all times. Jim goes to rehearsals to try to make amends with Claire, and to keep himself safe. Unfortunately, Claire still doesn't trust Jim after her parents blamed her for leaving Jim with Enrique. Without a ride to take him home, Jim is left on his own and tries to get away from the Stalking, but it catches up to him and carries him into the clouds. All of a sudden, lightning appears and Jim uses it on his sword to strike the Stalking and turn it into stone, which succeeds. A few minutes before his birthday ends, Jim goes back to Trollmarket to receive Blinky's present, which is an unassembled moped that Blinky thinks that they could assemble together. Jim loves the gift and claims it as "the greatest gift he has ever gotten." Overconfidence Isn't Key One day, while training with Draal, Jim feels a little nervous about talking to Claire and the play. To help him, Draal gives him a special necklace that will boost his confidence and fearlessness. Unfortunately, Jim starts to act smug, arrogant, rude, and disrespectful towards his friends and teachers. To make matters worse, Jim decides to go fight Bular himself in the sewer. In this battle, Jim hears Bular call him "Young Atlas," which is Strickler's nickname for him, which causes Jim to figure out that Strickler is evil. A New Foe Having found out about Stickler being evil, Jim decides to come up with a plan; he'll keep Strickler occupied while he's having dinner at the Lake's residence and the others will sneak into Stickler's office for some things that could help them get Claire's brother back. Physical Appearance Jim is a rather tall, slim young man of fifteen (later, sixteen), with blue eyes and short dark brown hair. He wears a blue zip-up jacket with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and a white shirt underneath. He has blue jeans and blue and white sneakers. While using the Amulet of Daylight, Jim wears a silver suit of knight's armor, complete with breastplate, pauldrons, blue trimmings, greaves, and sabatons. Underneath the armor, he wears a sort of black undershirt, although this inner layer has never been fully shown. While wielding the Amulet of Eclipse, this armor is black with red trimmings. Both armors have their respective amulets mounted on Jim's left chest and their swords stowed on the backs of the armors. Personality At the start of the series, Jim is shown being the caretaker around the house, cooking meals for himself and his mother, Barbara Lake. Despite it being Barbara's job to take care of him, he likes taking care of her because of how much work she does as a doctor. Jim can get nervous often, as he didn't want to accept his new position of the Trollhunter, never been in a fight before, or was to nervous to ask his crush, Claire, to the dance. However, when he perseveres and tries, despite his fear, he can succeed in his job which proves how brave and hard-working he is. After getting used to being the Trollhunter, he is braver than ever that he took on Bular and the changlings. Jim is protective of his loved ones, to the point that he might be over-protective. To keep his loved ones safe, like his friends Toby, Claire, Blinky, and AAARRRGGHH!!!, or his mom, that he'll try to keep them out of a fight and finish it alone. Another sign of his over-protectiveness is that he's willing to lie to his mom to keep her from worrying. Jim kept it a secret, but he didn't keep it hidden because Barbara is aware of Jim's lies and kept demanding him to tell the truth, but Jim kept lying to protect her, despite it only straining their relationship even further. He's definitely willing to keep lying for his loved ones' safety no matter what the consequences are, even when they spoil his "good boy" reputation toward the people he knows like his teachers, Claire, and especially his mom. Most of all, when his mom finally found out he is the Trollhunter, she had her memory erased and she made him promise to tell her again later. Jim did promise, however, he chooses to break his promise again so she wouldn't worry. Despite being protective, he knows when he can't accomplish things without help from his team. Abilities Trollhunter After being chosen by the Amulet of Daylight, Jim is able to summon the sword Daylight and his armor by chanting "For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command!" Jim is able to manipulate the armor any way he desires, such as causing his sword to return to his hand in combat or switching hands, or summoning one of the alternate weapons provided by the armor. Sometimes, he is shown activating the amulet without speaking the incantation. Enhanced Strength and Durability Thanks to the Amulet of Daylight, Jim is slightly stronger and more durable than an average human. He has been seen taking hits that would have almost certainly broken an ordinary person's bones, as well as withstanding Bular's crushing grip. Jim has even withstood a high-altitude lightning strike, which was sufficient enough to kill a Stalkling and would have severely injured if not killed an ordinary human. Cooking Jim is an accomplished cook, making meals for himself and his mother while she works. Toby Domzalski and Mr. Strickler have both praised his cooking. Swordsmanship After training with Draal, Jim is an accomplished swordsman, able to hold off Nomura, Strickler, and even Bular himself. Jim's fighting style is somewhat chaotic, but he uses his agility to outsmart larger and stronger foes and get behind their guard. Jim's proficiency has extended beyond Daylight as well, as he is able to parry Angor Rot's attacks with his newly discovered daggers and even hold off Nomura using a frying pan in his house. Martial Arts Although Jim had no formal training in martial arts, he was instructed in the art of hand-to-hand combat by Blinky and Draal. While he relies on his sword for most attacks, Jim has been shown to improvise punches and kicks in combat, and was even seen knocking out Steve Palchuk with one punch. Tactician As the de facto leader of his Trollhunters group, Jim is usually the one who comes up with the group's strategies. Although his plans have been foiled, such as when Strickler anticipated his attempt to send Toby, Blinky, and AAARRRGGHH!!! into his office, Jim has a knack for improvising situations to complete his missions. Equipment Amulet of Daylight The chief weapon of Trollhunters, the Amulet of Daylight called out to Jim in the voice of Kanjigar and chose him as the first ever human Trollhunter. By chanting "For the Glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command!" Jim can encase himself in a medieval knight's armor, complete with the Sword of Daylight. The sword is harmful to trolls, vaporizing them on contact and blinding them with its presence. The amulet itself lets Jim translate Troll into English and vice versa, and it will return to Jim if separated, as seen when he tries to dispose of it early on and later, when it escaped the clutches of Strickler and Bular. The amulet can be opened and upgraded with special stones, including the Triumbric Stones and the Eye of Angor Rot. Amulet of Eclipse A new amulet that summons black armor and the black sword Eclipse. Eclipse's capabilities are currently unknown, but it can be assumed that its basic qualities are similar in nature to that of Daylight. This amulet is activated with the incantation: "For the Doom of Gunmar, Eclipse is mine to command!" Bike Jim's bike is his primary form of transportation in Part 1, and his main way of getting to and from school. Jim uses the bike to escape from foes including Bular and the Stalkling. After he receives a Vespa on his 16th birthday from Blinky, the bike is no longer used. Vespa 150 G.S. Jim's Vespa 150 G.S. was a birthday gift from Blinky and Jim's most desired birthday present. The scooter is Jim's primary form of transportation and seats 2, with Toby Domzalski and Claire Nuñez being its most common passengers. Relationships Toby Domzalski “Sure, I did. You had no problem sneaking into the Darklands when it was to save Claire’s brother, but now that Kanjigar says you’ve got to face Gunmar, you’re having nightmares about him and are freaking out that you’re way out of your league. I can multi-task, Jimbo! -Toby to Jim in "Mudslinging" Toby Domzalski is Jim's best friend and "sidekick". He really loves tacos and has a crush on the school mascot (later revealed to be Darci Scott). He is always by Jim's side during battles. It is noted that Toby likes to be the only one at Jim's side. In the episode Airheads, he is seen arguing and competing with Claire Nuñez for the position of Jim's sidekick. Claire Nuñez "You mean WE are gonna find him... together." -Claire to Jim in "The Battle of Two Bridges" At first, Jim merely crushed on Claire from afar and she tolerated him at best, until he attempted to woo her with quickly learned Spanish and she invited him to audition for the school play, Romeo and Juliet. ''Although he didn't actually want to act, he auditioned to convince Strickler that the armor was for the play. However, due to his tardiness and absence from several rehearsals, their relationship begins to turn sour. After a last minute attempt to win back her trust, he agrees to babysit her little brother, Enrique, who is actually a changling, who they dubbed as NotEnrique. After causing a mess in her house, she says she hopes to never see him again. Before he and Draal have their to-the-death rematch, he leaves her a letter, confessing all of his feelings and what has been going on with him. She forgives him, thinking it's metaphorical, but then grows suspicious and, after NotEnrique endangers her and she learns the truth, the two grow closer as she joins in on the adventures, and prepare to go to the Spring Fling together. They ultimately decide to skip the Fling, and instead dance near a cliff overlooking the city, almost kissing. During Season Two, Claire is determined to rescue Jim from the Darklands after he saved Enrique first. After everyone manages to get him back, Claire hugs him saying that she miss him and they both share a kiss. After an unconventional barbecue at her parents' house, Claire finally calls Jim her boyfriend and says that she does not care that her parents disapprove of it, officially becoming a couple. Blinky ''"Jim, dance like nobody is watching, and love like its never gonna hurt..." -Blinky, to Jim, in "The Shattered King." Blinky is Jim's mentor and is very loyal to him. He calls him "Master Jim" and is often accompanied by his friend AAARRRGGHH!!!. Blinky helps with problems that Jim faces and looks up remedies to help him fight the rogue trolls and goblins. In later episodes, it is revealed by Walter Strickler in a fight with Jim, that Jim sees Blinky as his surrogate father. Draal When first entering Heartstone Trollmarket, Draal goes to Jim, demanding that he prove he's the new Trollhunter. After donning the armor, Jim grows frightened of Draal once he learns that Draal is Kanjigar's son, the last Trollhunter, and believes he himself is the amulet's rightful heir. Saying it's "training", he challenges Jim in the Hero's Forge with Vendel watching. Jim quickly loses and this causes him to question whether the amulet chose correctly. After his doubt settles and with his confidence restored, he asks Draal for a rematch. However, he grows fearful again once it's explained that a rematch would be to-the-death. In their match, Jim, using the knowledge he gained from reading A Brief Recapitulation of Troll Lore, wins the match, but ignoring the chants of the other trolls, doesn't kill Draal and instead helps him to his feet. Draal, exiled out of shame, takes refuge in Jim's basement, and vows to protect his house. He trains Jim how to fight and continues to live with Jim for the remainder of part one, even after he is welcomed back into Trollmarket. When Draal was taken over by Gunmar, Jim was reluctant to fight him, since they’re friends. Barbara Lake “I want you to know something. Even before you found this amulet- way before all this- you were always my hero. My beautiful boy…” -Barbara, to Jim in "A Night to Remember" After Jim's father left them around his 5th birthday, they vowed to always take care of each other. To the present day, Jim has continued to care for his mother, doing all of the cooking and cleaning in the house. When Jim became the Trollhunter and met his new trolls friends, he was determined to keep it all a secret from her just to keep her from worrying. Unfortunately, she got worried either way. After Jim gets more involved in his occupation as a Trollhunter, his mom grows more worried, as he's begun to return home at late hours, argue, and keep secrets from her. He expresses discomfort that he must do such things, but continues to, and heatedly tells her that he doesn't want her to see Mr. Strickler again after she invited him over for dinner, even though she's fond of him. Their relationship continued to strain and only seemed to worsen until, while waiting for Angor Rot to enter his house, she comes home early. Unable to make up a lie in time, he quickly reveals the truth to her and after Mr. Stickler is injured, causing Barbara to receive the same injury due to their intertwined fates, he brings her to Trollmarket to heal her. Vendel tells him the only way for Barbara to heal properly is to unbind her from Mr. Strickler, however, she would also lose her memories in the process. Barbara begs several times for Jim to remind her of his life as a Trollhunter when she comes to and promises that he will. Once she loses consciousness, he rushes her to a hospital in the human world so she can heal properly. After she reawakens, she asks Jim what happened, he lies and tells her that she was in an accident, breaking his promise. Eli Pepperjack Jim and Eli get along well. Ever since Jim stood up for Eli when Steve shoved him into a locker, Eli has been deeply devoted to Jim, and was genuinely shocked when he and Steve assumed he was evil. When Steve and Eli helped Jim and the others help the trolls escape Gunmar, Eli said that he has a lot of questions for Jim. It is also shown that Eli believes Jim to be the best person in the world and idolizes him. Steve Palchuk Since knocking Steve’s tooth out, Steve spent a majority of the series trying to get revenge on Jim. When Jim entered the Darklands and the other Trollhunters told everyone he had a terminal illness, Steve knew it was a trick and decided to find out about what was going on. When Eli and Steve teamed up to investigate, they assumed that Jim was part of an evil supernatural plot, but eventually found out the truth. Since then, Steve has gained respect for Jim and gotten over his loss. Trivia *Jim always wears two outfits in the whole series: his day attire and his armor. **His eclipse armor doesn't really count as they are from the same source. *He is the first human Trollhunter. *The only humans that know he's the Trollhunter, are Toby, Claire, his mom Barbara (whose memory was erased), Eil and Steve. *He is an excellent cook. *Jim is ambidextrous.It just hit me that Jim Lake is ambidextrous. (2016). Blog My Mind Has No Frequency. Available at: http://thearcticflame.tumblr.com/post/155212546142/it-just-hit-me-that-jim-lake-is-ambidextrous 20 Dec. 2017. *In the books, Jim's last name was "Sturges", which meant "Warrior". Gallery References Category:Characters Category:Trollhunters Characters Category:Main Characters Category:Heroes Category:Males Category:Humans Category:Trollhunters Category:Children Category:Alive